


Direct the Blame

by Footloose_Poets



Series: Tony Built a Son [7]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Hand-Wavey Robotics, Head Injury, Iron Dad, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Spider-son, Thor is the cool irresponsible uncle, android!peter, angsty fluff, creator!Tony, just go with it, more so than usual, this has no real structure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-20 05:43:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15527364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Footloose_Poets/pseuds/Footloose_Poets
Summary: or That Time Peter Got Thor Involved in One of his Bright Ideas





	Direct the Blame

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all,
> 
> As you probably know, I haven't updated this series in a while. I've been struggling with a more emotional work for this series and this idea came to me while I was working. I thought I'd write it up to get something out that was a little easier to for me to handle. It's far from perfect, but is more to get me back into writing for this AU again.

Stark’s robot son could be very convincing.

 _Android – he prefers the term android._   Thor didn’t see much of a distinction, but if it was important to Peter then he wasn’t about to argue.

“It could tear your arms off,” he had reasoned.

“No, I’ve worked it out.  My arms are strong enough to take the force,” Peter had grinned.

“You could lose your grip and be flung miles away.”

“Nah, my grip is strong enough.”

“… Has your father approved of this?”

“Why do I need Tony’s permission for _everything_?” Peter had groaned.  “My AI has nearly perfect physics simulation, I _know_ I can handle your throw and I’m really durable.  It won’t go wrong, so why does Tony need to know?”

Thor was almost certain Stark would actively disapprove of using Mjolnir to launch his son into the sky then bring him flying back towards the ground.  Even if nothing went wrong at all, Thor could imagine Stark banishing Peter from the Facility for several weeks if he found out after the fact.

“It’ll be really, really fun,” Peter had insisted.  “Please, Uncle Thor?”

And so here they were: Thor the weakling who had caved to a child’s foolish demands, and Peter the fearless android (manipulator).

“So you’ll swing the hammer and on my call, release it,” Peter explained as they stood in the open field at the Facility.  “Then I’ll grab it and it’ll pull me away and it will be the coolest thing I’ll ever do in my entire life.”

“You’re absolutely certain that you’ve considered this carefully and know how to execute it safely?” Thor asked him again, giving Mjolnir a few experimental swings.

“Yes, I’ve run simulations and everything should be fine.”

‘Should’ was a blaring warning signal, but Thor found himself too distracted by Peter’s overexcited bouncing and heady grin to pay it the attention it deserved.

“Alright,” he conceded, feeling a little guilty that he wasn’t as reluctant as he thought he should be.  “Tell me when you’re ready—”

“ _I am!_ ” Peter said immediately.

Thor readied his stance and began to spin the hammer.  Peter’s eyes widened with anticipation.

“When you’re ready,” Thor told him.

Peter nodded, arm out.  “ _Now!_ ”

Mjolnir was released and with a flash shot into the air, an android boy now gripping its handle with superhuman strength.  Peter was screaming in what Thor hoped was elation as the hammer pulled him further and further into the air until he looked like a tiny ant against the expansive blue of the sky.

That was far enough – too far really, but Thor hadn’t held back.  He extended an arm, watching as his summon halted the tiny speck in the sky, the ant-sized figure dangling precariously from it.  The little black ant then came flying back towards him, growing in size until it was Peter again and the android’s exhilarated scream reached his ears.

In the next few moments, everything went wrong.

Thor caught Mjolnir by the head with the ease of centuries of practice. 

Peter, a blur of colour, kept flying.  His hold came undone.

“Nononono—”

Thor dropped Mjolnir and grabbed his leg, but his grip stripped it as the android kept moving to the ground. 

Peter’s head made impact with a dull thud.

There was silence.

For long moment Thor just stood there, hand still clasping Peter’s ruined ankle while the android lay headfirst on the grass.

“… Peter?” he finally asked.

There was no answer.  He let go of the leg and Peter finally crumpled fully to the ground.  Thor knelt beside him and rolled him over.

For a few seconds all he could register was the _dent_ in Peter’s forehead.

After another few moments he was finally able to see past it and realise that Peter’s eyes were open.

“Are you alright?” Thor asked, voice barely above a whisper as he still felt dread twisting his chest.

Peter didn’t answer, gaze vacant as it met Thor’s.

“Peter?”

Staring.

“Say something.”

Peter sat up.  Thor panicked and grabbed his head, turning it to look at him.

“I can’t tell if this is a joke,” he said.  “Tell me you’re alright.”

There was no response except Peter’s blank gaze, so no, this wasn’t a joke.  This was bad.

 _Stark_.

“Don’t worry, I’m taking you to Stark.  I’m sure he can fix this,” Thor said, lifting Peter into his arms.

The android didn’t reply.  Thor, feeling his heart pounding in his chest, began to run towards the main building.

“You’re going to be fine, Peter,” he said.

He didn’t get a reply, but he wasn’t expecting one this time.  Now, he was just hoping that he was right and Stark _could_ fix this.  He didn’t think he could forgive himself if Peter was damaged beyond repair because he’d chosen to ignore his own better judgement and indulge the boy.

He was supposed to be better than that.

“ _Thor!_ ” a voice called from the skies.  Tony Stark touched down and his helmet retracted.  “What happened?”

Thor had no time to explain before Stark had run forward and pulled Peter out of his arms, setting him on the ground.

“Peter?”  He held the boy’s head in much the same way Thor had only minutes ago.  “Diagnostics report _now_.”

Peter blinked.  “Central processor is disconnected.  Unable to complete diagnostics.”

That was Peter’s voice, but it didn’t sound like the young android had _said_ it more than simply _relayed_ it.  Stark’s face was pale.

“FRIDAY, run a scan,” he said into his suit.

Thor waited as Stark listened for the response.  After a few seconds, the man closed his eyes, letting go of a heavy breath and wrapping his arms around Peter.  Thor didn’t want to let himself feel relieved until:

“He’s okay.”

He let go of a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.

“What’s wrong with him?” he asked, kneeling beside them.

Stark pulled away from the hug.  Peter still stared, and Stark watched him with haggard eyes.

“He hit his head, right?  The connections to his central processor snapped,” he explained.  “I got the critical damage alert.”

“But does that mean he’s…” Thor doesn’t want to finish his question.

Stark shook his head.  “He’s designed to do that so his head can crumple without crushing it.  He’s gonna be okay, I’ve just gotta spend the next few hours micro-soldering it back in place.”

He placed his head in his hands then, sucking in air.  Thor leaned forward and placed a large hand on his back.  He didn’t think much else would help.

“I didn’t know what was wrong till I got here,” Stark said after a minute.  “It just—it could have been worse.”

Thor nodded.  He understood the feeling perfectly well.  Stark sighed and looked up at Peter.  The android stared back.

“What happened?”

Thor struggled to answer.  He’d been reckless and it was hard to admit such a petty reason for causing so much strife.

“Actually, you know what?” Stark interjected before anything could be said.  “That’s not productive right now.  I want to focus on fixing him.”  He stood up.  “Peter, Manual Override.  Run secondary response program.”

Peter blinked and stood up.  He swayed on his damaged leg but quickly steadied himself.  Thor now noticed his hands.  It seemed Peter hadn’t lost his grip after all – his fingers had simply snapped right off.

“I’m sorry,” Thor found himself saying.

Peter turned his head to look at him, but there was no recognition in his eyes.

“We can talk about it later,” Stark said.

With that, he put a hand around Peter’s shoulders and led the him in the direction of the main building.  Thor didn’t follow them.

No one heard from Stark or Peter for the remainder of the day, although Thor couldn’t be certain as he’d decided to avoid the other members of the Facility for the night.  He wasn’t feeling up to talking much.

“Hey Grayskull.”  Thor heard the next morning as he entered the lounge.

He was surprised to see Stark already up and around so early after what was surely a long night.

“Stark,” he greeted.  “Is… is Peter…?”

“Good as new,” Stark told him, elbows on his knees as he sat on the couch.  “Actually, _he has something to say to you_.”

He almost shouted those last few words, directing them right over Thor’s head and towards the hallway.  Thor turned to see Peter walking towards them.

“Hi.”

Thor grinned.  It was infinitely reassuring to see Peter alive and well with his own eyes.  “Good Morning, Peter.  Are you feeling better?”

Peter nodded with a tight smile.  Stark suddenly gave an obnoxiously loud cough.

“Okay, Dad!” Peter snapped.  He looked up at Thor.  “I wanted to apologise.”

“Apologise?”  It was hard to believe Peter needed to do so after the state he was in only the day before.

“Yes.  I knew there was a big risk trying to ride Mjolnir yesterday.  I… underplayed that risk.  I’m sorry.”

“I should be sorry,” Thor explained.  “I had doubts from the beginning and considering I’m thousands of years older than you, I should have—”

“Don’t sabotage my parenting efforts, Point Break,” Stark interrupted.  “Let the kid take some responsibility, he knew what he was doing.”

Thor wasn’t entirely sure he agreed.

“Why don’t we say that we both made mistakes yesterday and forgive each other?” he suggested.

Peter looked to his father.  Stark shrugged.

“Diplomacy works,” he agreed.

“Very well,” Thor nodded.  He extended a hand.  “I am sorry, Peter.”

Peter took it solemnly.  “I’m sorry too, Uncle Thor.”

Stark’s scoff and mutter of _Uncle Thor?_ was ignored.  Peter moved in for a hug that Thor was all too happy to return.

“It _was_ really awesome, even with the head damage,” Peter grinned as soon as he pulled away.  “I flew so high.”

“Then nearly ended up flattened into a disc,” Stark pointed out.

“Yeah, but… Thor threw me so far.”

They then fell into a light-hearted argument over just how amazing it would be to even be destroyed by the God of Thunder.

Thor made no effort to pretend he wasn’t listening.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed :) Feel free to let me know what you think!


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